


Snapshot of Your Soul

by AllThoseOtherWorlds



Series: Fall Into Life [3]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Fluff, Human Castiel, M/M, Photography
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-29
Updated: 2014-05-29
Packaged: 2018-01-26 23:50:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,710
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1707095
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AllThoseOtherWorlds/pseuds/AllThoseOtherWorlds
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sam thinks Castiel needs a hobby, so Cas takes up photography. He likes to take candid photos of Sam, and one day he and Sam go back through all the photos.</p>
<p>Could be a standalone, if you want it to be.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Snapshot of Your Soul

**Author's Note:**

> **Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural. I do not make money from this.**
> 
> **Comments and constructive criticisms are always welcome! Even if you didn't finish reading the piece, I'd like to know what you did and/or didn't like. If anything I said is offensive or wrong, let me know and I'll change it.**
> 
> **Takes place in that happy little S9 AU we all have where there's no Gadreel and no fallen angel stuff, and they're just living in the Bunker and doing normal hunts and all that. In this AU, Sam completed the trials but he got better and didn't die from them, and Castiel sealed the angels into Heaven but had to give up his own Grace to do it. He's staying at the Bunker with Sam and Dean, obviously.**

                “Hey, Cas,” Sam said one day as Castiel browsed through the shelves of the Bunker library for something to read. “We should find you a hobby.”

                “Why?” Castiel asked, confused. He had a vague idea of what hobbies were, but he wasn’t sure why he would need one.

                “Because you seem a bit bored sometimes between hunts,” Sam told him. “You need something to do.”

                “Like what?” he asked, aware that he was doing the ‘head-tilt thing’ as the Winchesters called it. “What are your hobbies, Sam?”

                “Well,” Sam said, shifting uncomfortably. “I like reading, and, uh… I may need some new hobbies too.”

                Castiel nodded and stepped towards Sam. “How would we go about finding new hobbies?” He asked. “Should we research them?”

                “Maybe,” Sam said. “Try to think about what sorts of things you’d like to learn how to do.”

                The conversation was abandoned at that point, derailed by the arrival of Dean, who wanted to know if Cas would be sharing their dinner or preparing something himself. By the time the three of them had finished discussing the relative merits of chickpeas, he’d nearly forgotten about the conversation with Sam.

***

                It wasn’t until a week later that he remembered the talk about hobbies. They had just finished hunting a particular subspecies of demon that could be seen on photographs. Sam had researched cameras for the task and Dean had completely ignored his advice, purchasing something the employees at the tech store had recommended. After photographing the inhabitants of the town to figure out which one was possessed, it was a fairly simple task.

                Of course, now they had a pretty good camera hanging around the Bunker, and nothing pressing to do with it.

                “Can I have it?” Castiel asked slowly. He’d been staying with the Winchesters for at least a month now, but he was still nervous about asking for things.

                “What for?” Dean asked. He hefted the camera back and forth between his hands. “I mean, you can have it, but I didn’t know you were into photography.”

                “I am not ‘into photography’, as it were,” Castiel said, using his fingers to make air quotes. “But I have been informed that I need to find a hobby, and as far as I know photography qualifies.”

                Cas noticed Sam smiling at him as though he were trying to smother a laugh, and wondered what had amused him. The smile looked fond rather than malicious, so he decided that whatever it was, it had to be all right. Anything that made Sam smile like that was good in his eyes.

                “If you break it, you’ve bought it,” Dean said, looping the camera strap around Castiel’s neck. “Now, if you don’t mind, I’m going to go shower. I’m covered in grave dirt.” With that, he headed up the stairs.

“Try not falling in next time!” Sam called after him. “

Dean gave Sam the finger without breaking stride and vanished through the door at the top of the staircase. Sam turned to Castiel and grinned.

“So Cas, what do you want to photograph?”

***

                As it turned out, Castiel wanted to photograph _everything_.

                In three days, he had compiled more than 100 shots of various things in and around the Bunker. There were photos of flowers growing outside and of dust collecting in the corners; photos of sunlight streaming in a window and of shadows growing in the evening; photos of vegetables Dean had left out for a while and of a branch rotting in the grass. Lots of photos were blurry, but Castiel thought that, in time, he could improve.

                He was genuinely enjoying his new hobby. Whenever he looked for something to capture on his camera he was reminded of how he saw things as an angel – everything was so _beautiful_ if he looked at it the right way, even things that weren’t normally viewed as such. One day, while he was taking multiple shots of some scuffs in the table, Sam approached him.

                “Hey, Cas,” he said. “What are you photographing?”

                Castiel beckoned him closer with one hand and held the camera with the other. “There are some interesting scratches in the wood here.”

                He could feel Sam approaching him and leaning down to look at the table. “These scratches here?” he asked, pointing.

               “Yes,” Castiel told him, angling the camera for another shot.

                “Why them?” Sam asked him. “Why not something else?”

                “They caught my eye,” Castiel responded, checking the photo on the camera’s little screen. “I am aware that they are generally seen as flaws, but I think they give it character.”

                He turned to Sam and added, “they give strength. It is more than the sum of its past.”

                “The table?” Sam asked, slowly.

                “The table,” Castiel confirmed, although he suspected they both knew he wasn’t talking about the table.

***

                Shortly after their next hunt, Castiel discovered another excellent subject for his photography: Sam.

                It started with a quick snapshot of Sam unpacking his duffel in the Bunker after the hunt, but quickly escalated. Cas took candid photos of Sam when he fell asleep researching; when he grinned at something Dean had said, or smirked and bantered with him; he took photos when Sam came down the stairs in the morning, hair still mussed up from sleep.

                He knew Sam had noticed, but he hadn’t said anything and it wasn’t as though Castiel was going to do anything with the photos, so he kept taking them. He’d been getting better with his photography pretty steadily – apparently being an ex-angel had some perks, and faster learning speeds was one of them – and he was pleased with the way the photographs were turning out.

                One day, after he’d snapped a photo of Sam bending to grab an apple out of the lower drawer in their fridge, Sam turned and asked him about the photos.

                “Cas,” he said, “I don’t mind if you want to photograph me, but… why?”

                Confusion was evident in his voice, and Castiel felt a pang of something he couldn’t identify in his chest.

                “Because you’re worth noticing, Sam,” he said. “You’re beautiful – the way you move and act and look, the way your personality shines through in your actions. It begs to be remembered.”

                Sam didn’t respond for a long moment, although he opened his mouth as though he were about to. Castiel let the silence stretch, unbothered by it himself and aware that sometimes people needed time to react.

                “Wow, Cas,” Sam managed finally. “Thanks. Uh…” he hesitated for a moment before continuing. “Could you show me the photos you’ve already taken?”

                “Of course, Sam,” Castiel replied. “They’re on the laptop you and Dean found for me.”

                Sam followed Castiel up to his room and they sat down on the bed. Dean had insisted on buying memory foam for each of them, and although Castiel had to admit that it was comfortable, he would have been happy with anything.

                Still, it made a nicely soft surface for him and Sam to lie down upon as Castiel cracked open his laptop and loaded the photo library.

                He hadn’t realized just _how many_ photos he had of Sam until he opened the folder and saw them amassed before him.

                “I apologize for photographing you without asking,” Castiel said.

                “Its fine, Cas,” Sam replied, smiling. “It’s not like I didn’t know you were photographing me.”

                Castiel nodded, relieved at the verification that Sam was not upset with him. They started with the earliest photos, although Castiel tried to skip the really blurry ones and made a note to himself to clean out the files at some point. He really should delete the photos that hadn’t turned out very well.

                “I like this one,” he told Sam, stopping at a picture of Sam bent over a book with his hair pulled back into a ponytail. “It suits you.”

                “Yeah,” Sam said. “You’re getting pretty good at this stuff, you know.”

                “Thanks,” Castiel replied. They moved through the photos at varying speeds – they could skim over a large section and then slow down to reminisce about a particular moment that Castiel had captured.

                “Hey, I remember that day,” Sam said, pointing to a photo of Sam laughing and pointing at Dean. “We were watching one of Dean’s old western movies.” He grinned. “I guess you didn’t care for it much more than I did if you decided to take photographs instead of watch.”

                Cas nodded ruefully. “I did try to enjoy it, as I know Dean cares for those movies a great deal, but they didn’t appeal to me.”

                “I can’t say I blame you,” Sam said. “Next time we have a movie night, _I’m_ picking.”

                “Dean may be difficult to convince,” Castiel decided, “But he can deal with it.”

                Sam laughed. “Yeah.” He smiled for a few more seconds before his expression turned serious again. “Thanks, Cas.”

                “For what?” Castiel asked.

                Sam sighed. “For being able to see something good in me, seeing more than hunting and demon blood.”

                “Sam,” Castiel said softly, “There is so much more to you than those things. You are intelligent and kind and open-minded, and more forgiving than anyone I have ever met.”

                “Thanks,” Sam repeated, smiling.

                “It’s true,” Castiel told him.

                The smile on Sam’s face was soft and hopeful and happy, and Castiel couldn’t resist snapping a photo of it before embracing Sam in a hug.

                “So,” he said once they had both returned to reality, “Do you want to look over the rest of these pictures?”

                Sam laughed, a light sound that made Castiel feel warm inside. “Of course, Cas.”

                They spent the rest of the day lying together on the bed and looking at the photos on Castiel’s laptop, only leaving for dinner when Dean knocked on the door to make sure that they were actually both still alive.

                “Yes, Dean, we’re fine,” Sam told him. “We’ll be right there.”

                As they got up to go to supper, Sam turned to Castiel. “Hey, Cas,” he said. “Just so we’re clear, I don’t mind if you keep photographing me, as long as I get to see the pictures.”

                “Thank you, Sam,” Castiel said. “I will.”

                He grabbed his camera off the bed before leaving at the room.


End file.
